TROTSKY
THE FORGOTTEN GENIUS OF THE REVOLUTION
AREA OF STUDY ONE
KEY POINTS
Trotsky, like Lenin, was absent for much of the lead up to
the February revolution
However, his role in organising and leading the Soviets in
1905 is significant
His reconciliation with Lenin in 1917 led him to the
Bolsheviks
His leadership was crucial to the success of the October
Revolution
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In the lead up to 1905, Trotsky had been exiled for his
socialist lectures and writing in Iskra
At the 1903 Social Democrat Congress he supported the
Mensheviks when they split from the Bolsheviks
Despite this, he attempted, on many occasions, to
reunite the ‘warring factions’
On his return, he helped establish the Petrograd Soviet
in 1905. At age 26, he is elected chairman of the Soviet.
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The Soviet was formed to discuss greivances of workers,
created by Sergei Witte’s industrial reforms.
It was this Soviet that called for a ‘National General
Strike’ in 1905
It could then easily be argued, that Trotsky played an
influential role in 1905 and thus, an important one in
developing a revolutionary situation
He was exiled for his involvement in the protest.
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In response to the October
Manifesto he stated:
“we have been given a
constitution, but absolutism
remains. Everything is given
and nothing is given”
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After 1905, he stated that:
“although with a few broken
ribs, Tsarism came out of the
experience of 1905 alive and
strong enough”
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After 1905, he was sent into exile. He lectured on
Socialism around Europe between 1907 and 1917.
He was absent for the beginning of WW1, the formation
and destruction of the Dumas and the many strikes
leading up to February 1917.
February 1917: The Provisional Government asks the
British Govt. to detain Trotsky to prevent his return.
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Trotsky was actually in New York when Tsar Nicholas
abdicated.
He clearly represented a genuine threat to the stability
of the February Revolution and Provisional Government.
This can easily be linked to the growin power of the
Petrograd Soviet.
With Trotsky returning, the Soviet would have a popular
leader.
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“Trotsky moved like a bright
comet across the political sky. He
first came to global attention in
1917. By all accounts he was the
finest orator of the Russian
Revolution.”
Robert Service
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May 1917. Trotsky returns to Petrograd, paraded and
carried on the shoulders of workers.
In line with Lenin’s ideology, he advocated for an
advancement beyond the Bourgeoise stage of
revolution, towards the ‘proletarian stage’
Significantly, he breaks from the Mensheviks in July for
two reasons:
1. They supported Russia and Kerensky’s decision to
continue WW1
2. They felt the revolution had gone far enough
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Trotsky saw the July Days of 1917 as a failure of
organisation.
Trotsky wrote to the Provisional Government to
pledge his support for the July rebels.
He is imprisoned by Kerensky. He is soon released.
Once free, he raises his profile in the Petrograd
Soviet and in the Bolshevik Party.
In July / August, he had a much larger public profile
than Lenin (who was in hiding)
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In August 1917 Trotsky observed that:
“the factory committees… are in an
overwhelming majority made up of
Bolsheviks. In the Petrograd trades
unions everyday practical work… lies
wholly with the Bolsheviks. In the
workers’ section of the Petrograd
Soviet, the Bolsheviks constitute an
overwhelming majority.”
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Trotsky’s superior oratory skills saw him rise as President
of the Petrograd Soveity in September 1917.
By that stage, it was politically dominated by the
Bolshevik party.
The slogan ‘All power to the
Soviets’ now had a legitmate
leader.
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In October, Trotsky sided with Lenin’s ideology.
Trotsky gave Lenin his full support
“I told Lenin that nothing separated
me from his April Thesis and from
the course that the party had taken
since his arrival”
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October 1917: The Mensheviks suggested that the
Petrograd Soviet form the Military Revolutionary
Committee (MRC), initially to defend Petrograd from
German attack.
The Bolsheviks cunningly suggest that the MRC should
also defend Petrograd from counter-revolutionary attack
Trotsky advises Petrograd Soviet to overthrow Prov.
Govt. As main member of MRC, he organises Red Guards
– armed by the Kornilov affair.
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Trotsky won over the support of the Petrograd Soviet.
Trotsky asked the Petrograd Garrison to pledge its
support (21 October).
By October 1917, only about 5% of the Petrograd
Garrison of 160,000 was willing to support the Prov.
Govt.
Trotsky organised and led the October 24 takeover of
Petrograd.
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Views on Trotsky’s contribution:
Lenin was the strategist,
Trotsky was the tactician.
Lenin was the architect of the
October Revolution, Trotsky
was the master builder
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Views on Trotsky’s contribution:
Trotsky:
“Had I not been present in 1917 in St.
Petersburg, the October Revolution would still
have happened – on the condition that Lenin
was present and in command. If neither Lenin
nor I had been present, in Petersburg, there
would have been no October Revolution: the
leadership of the Bolshevik Party would have
prevented it from occurring.”
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Views on Trotsky’s contribution:
Spunde (fellow Bolshevik)
“Trotsky displayed his best qualities in 1917. He
was the idol of the mass meetings in Petrograd.
Determination and boldness showed in
everything he did….. Trotsky was one of the best
speakers of the revolution. He spoke everywhere
with amazing brilliance and had the ability to
popularise even difficult ideas with great skill.”
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PRACTICE QUESTIONS:
What was Trotsky's role in the Revolution
of 1905?'
What was Trotsky's contribution to the
revolution of October 1917?
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KEY POINTS
Trotsky played a key role in the Treaty of Brest Litovsk.
He was an important member of the Communist Party
Politburo
Trotsky’s organisation of the Red Army and political and
military leadership during the Civil War was critical.
Despite his skill as a public speaker and broad popularity,
he became unpopular with other Bolsheviks for his
arrogance.
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Trotsky deliberately delayed and
frustrated the German delegates.
He believed that mutiny and revolution
among the German army was inevitable.
Winning over significant opposition from
other Bolsheviks
It never happened.
The stalling tactic led to the German’s
attacking Petrograd and the Bolsheviks
moving their capital to Moscow
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Trotsky became Commissar of War
in 1918.
More than any other leader, Trotsky
consolidated the revolution during
the emergency of 1918-1920.
He was instrumental in organising
the Red Army
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Trotsky combined charismatic persuasiveness
with brilliant logistic skills.
When his Red soldiers were frightened by
British tanks, he had the Putilov Steekworks
knock up some Red ‘tanks’ to reassure his
troops.
Trotsky now displayed extraordinary
organisational skills in logistics: providing
weapons, ammunition, food and medical
supplies to a large army fighting on multiple
fronts.
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Soviet propaganda potrayed him
slaying the ‘White Dragon’.
Trotsky also made new use of an
existing technology, building an
armoured train, taking control of the
railways system, and using it to crisscross Russia from battle front to
battle front.
Red army troops thought he was
almost superhuman.
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White propaganda
The White Armies made much
of Trotsky’s Jewish background
They assumed this would paint
him as an ‘outsider’ to Russian
peasants.
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Trotsky was responsible for the transfer of
the 1917 Red Guard into the larger and
more diciplined Red Army.
Historian Michael Lynch argues that:
Trotsky did understand the issues of
discipline and deference that had been
raised as early as Soviet Order number 1
(1917), and did initially try to create an
army without ranks and badges, but
quickly discovered that this would not
work.
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Trotsky was known for his ruthless
attitude towards victory.
After 200 hundred Red Army deserters
were captured, he ordered all of them to
be executed
Historian Deutcher:
“Trotsky had not shrunk from using
Terror in the Civil War…. He was a little
fond of it as a surgeon is fond of
bloodshed”
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On the execution of the Romanovs Trotsky
said:
“The execution of the Tsar and his
family was needed not only to
frighten, horrify and instill a sense
of hopelessness in the enemy, but
also to shake up our own ranks, to
show that there was no retreating,
that ahead lay total victory or total
doom”.
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He strengthened the Red Army by
conscripting 50,000 former Tsarist officers
to lead the Red Army.
Each one was shadowed by a politcal
commissar
Many of their families had been held
hostage by the Cheka.
By 1920, the Red Army had grown to 5
million men
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Trotsky played a critical role in
implementing War Communism
At the start of 1920, he introduced the idea
of ‘the militarisation of labour’ meaning
that, as Commissar for War, he was going
to apply military style discipline to
industrial production
A policy that was hated by the 1921 as
noted in the greivances of The Kronstadt
Sailors and Alexandra Kollontai
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Prior to his death, Lenin admitted:
… Trotsky had “exceptional
abilities”, calling him the most
able man in the committee, but
feared “his over-reaching selfconfidence” and his tendency to
concentrate on administrative
detail.
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His arrogance led to his defeat in the
leadership struggle with Stalin
Ward:
“Trotsky and Bukharin might win the
argument, but Stalin invariably won the vote”.
Deutscher:
“It seemed to Trotsky almost a bad joke that
Stalin, the willful and sly but shabby and
inarticulate man in the background should be
his rival”.